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Posts Tagged ‘houseplants’

Houseplants: Home Beautification Must-Haves

Thursday, October 4th, 2018

Featured plants are the Uttermost Accessories Moth Orchid Planter 60039 and the Accessories La Costa Greenery, Set/3 60115.

Do you have the feeling, at times, that you can’t quite put your finger on what’s missing in your home? Are you wondering whether your habitat needs a unique décor? One way to do this is the traditional way of decorating with plants.

But caring for these plants causes a concern for most homeowners and this is a valid feeling. If you think that you can’t find more time for plant care, then you can always go for the low maintenance types.

Here are some ways that you can spruce up your home without the houseplants eating up your time and energy –

Know Their Benefits

Sometimes, all it takes to change your feelings toward plant care is to know their countless benefits. First, these green things are great in improving the energy and wellness in your home.

Second, plants are also aesthetically pleasing. They have amazing colors that never fail to captivate. They are also awesome air purifiers. Elementary science tells us that plants absorb the carbon dioxide that humans breathe out. They then give out oxygen, which humans need to breathe.

Other than air purification, plants are also known to improve man’s mental health, increase the humidity in a room, and reduce stress and fatigue.

Choose the Best Houseplants

When you’ve decided to incorporate houseplants to your interior décor, then begin with the low-maintenance type first, and just one potted plant would do, initially.

Snake plants and spider plants are wonderful choices for people who want to begin with easy maintenance plants. When you’re already looking for color sources, then look for succulents and houseplants.

Versatile flowering plants include chrysanthemums, Gerber daisies, orchids, and mums. The Chinese evergreen is a green and red plant that can be used as a perfect Christmas décor.

Here’s a word of caution, though – most flowering plants need a lot of care. They are worth your time and energy, though, since their beauty will surely captivate you. African violets and Bromeliads are also common choices in many homes because they are beautiful to behold.

Bring In Succulents

If you’re searching for an even smaller option, then you can always go for succulents. These are the houseplants that require the least amount of light. They also come in different shapes and sizes and you won’t have to worry whether they will thrive inside a room or not – because they will.

Succulents are best placed on shelves, on tables, and on the windowsills. Examples of succulents are aloe vera, hens-and-chicks ,and cacti.

Display Tall Houseplants

When you’re looking for a houseplant that can fill up a narrow corner or space, then you should look for a tall houseplant variety. Most of these thin and tall plants are also varieties that do not require a lot of light.

Expect for these to be a bit pricier than your usual houseplant, though. You will also need a special potholder or a plant stand to complete the plant’s look. The best examples of this plant type are Ficus, Philodendron, and Area palms.

Bamboo houseplants are also low-maintenance but stylish. Bamboo is also an amazing accent piece. Just make sure that it does not get direct sunlight or it will be in danger of being killed. Check also that the plant’s distilled water is changed every month. Find a vase or dish that can show off this amazing plant.

Show Off the Big-Leafed Plants

Today, these plants share the limelight with other trending interior design elements. Large leaf houseplants need tropical environment and care. These are the best additions to a contemporary or minimalist home.

Shop for a dieffenbachia or a monstera. These are the hottest large-leaf plants at the moment.

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Summer 2018 Trends for Your Home

Sunday, August 5th, 2018

Uttermost Accessories Salar Succulents In Teak Bowl

Summer is all about being bold, beautiful and bright. These are the adjectives that are often used to describe summer because this is the season to go out, frolic under the sun, and just have plain fun. But how would you translate all these to interior design?

When thinking of summer, it is also easy to picture a bright, airy room with colorful décor. These are, of course, true every year but the textures, hues, and patterns can also be altered. As the saying goes, nothing is set in stone so you’re absolutely free to experiment, blend, and alter.

So let’s see what’s hot this season. Wall hangings, patterns, and daring gelato colors are in. Here are some ways that you can infuse these into your interiors –

Trendy Accents

A wonderful way to incorporate the delicious colors of summer is through texture. You can begin with the gold trend and use it first in some of your accent pieces. For instance, go for those gold-colored handles on coffee mugs. Or you can just go for the all-out gold on a lamp base. How about updating the frames on your gallery wall by adding gold edges?

Another inexpensive way to update your home is to paint any of the accent pieces in a room. You can also paint the back of a door with a fun, bold color that’s super trendy during summer. So go ahead and paint a door or two with bubblegum pink, bright lavender or lime green. These are the most popular hues for accessories this season.

Those Green Plants

We already know the many benefits of bringing in houseplants. These potted beauties are able to reduce carbon dioxide levels inside your home plus they also reduce other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and benzene.

Perhaps you’ve also noticed how the dust levels are at their lowest when you have houseplants. So how would you display your houseplants this summer?

You don’t need to have a huge room in order to display indoor plants. These do not just clean the air but also become effective décor. Have a side table or two where you can place your plants. If not, then have a shelf where you can also keep them.

Be chic by having cascading plants displayed. There are also planters and pots where you can place your favorite plants. These do not just accentuate the plants but also help in decorating your room. Just be sure to get low-maintenance plants if you don’t have time to tend to them.

That staircase can also be used. Arrange your potted plants on each step for a greener and more beautiful staircase. Or how about setting up a tropical wall art? You can display flowering plants or just your small pots of greens right on your living room or dining room wall.

You can also grow succulents which are also quite trendy nowadays.

A Macramé

This is a type of art that is created when a string or cord is used in creating patterns. The resulting pieces are then used as decorative articles. The beauty of this woven piece is that it can have many interior decorating uses.

First, there are many homeowners who are now using macramé in hanging their potted plants. There are also those who use it as a beautiful grand piano topper. You can also go retro by using macramé as fiber art on your walls. These are those little hops with some macramé that’s woven as a dream catcher. Votive holders can also be covered with this unique piece of fabric art.

Terrazzo Patterns

Why not? These are often used as tile flooring but they can also become an inspiration for wall décor and textile choices. You can also use them on accent pieces such as blankets, the bedding, and throw pillows.

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Indoor Plants: Your Home’s Natural Air Filters

Wednesday, April 25th, 2018

Houseplant decorating does not require a green thumb. This is great news since every home requires a touch of greenery. These potted beauties have a way of livening and brightening up any room but more than these reasons, they also can filter the very air that you breathe.

Unfortunately, not a lot of people realize the importance of breathing in fresh air. Air purifiers might be easy to install and all but nothing beats the inexpensive and natural look that potted plants can offer.

There are many types of plants that are known for their air purifying capacity. These include the English Ivy (this tops the list because of its air-purifying properties as well as its elegant beauty), the rubber plant (yup, this is no joke as they emit a high oxygen level), Lady Palm (this is as tropical as tropical could Spider Plant (it may not sound too plant-y but it helps in improving the air you breathe), the Barberton Daisy (which even combats xylene, formaldehyde, benzene, and toluene), Moth Orchid, and the Dwarf Date Palm.

There are many ways to display these natural air filters.

Hooker Furniture Bedroom Ozark Bed Bench

Bench, Credenza or Cart Display

The bench or cart is the simplest way that you can display your potted beauties. These come in handy when you don’t have a lot of space to work on.

Create a lively plant shrine by adding pots of greens onto a narrow credenza or a low bench. Just imagine this Hooker Furniture Bedroom Ozark bed bench filled with lovely greens.

White Pot ‘Em

Instead of the usual clay or ceramic pots, try a different look by planting your greens in white pots. Your evergreen foliage would even look and feel more elegant as you add these small 10”x8”x6” Uttermost Accessories Oval Domes Preserved Boxwood. Uttermost’s greens fuse quality with style. It also comes with advanced product engineering which promises the lowest damage rate. Every product is shipped out to you with quality in mind.

If the white pots don’t tickle your fancy, then you can always go for geometric pots or geometric greeneries. Here’s where the Uttermost Accessories Two Sphere Topiary Preserved Boxwood comes in. it is a plant arranged with two spheres and a mossy stone finish.

It is perfect for the living areas.

Uttermost Accessories Oval Domes Preserved Boxwood

Uttermost Accessories Two Sphere Topiary Preserved Boxwood

 

Plant Hangers

Another way that you can decorate with potted greens is to hang them. You can either suction them to the walls or build a special indoor trellis for them. These can then be classified as wall art and easily become the piece de resistance in a living room.

They can also be hung from the ceiling and you would need plant hangers for this. Make sure that the potted plant will be able to fit into the hangers. A macramé plant hanger can be made with some cotton cords. Learn the technique here.

You can also place long, hanging plants on wall shelving. Add some of your bottle or ceramic collections to complete the look.

Vase the Branches

Sometimes, all that you need is a part of the plant. You can get a lovely vase (it’s up to you whether you’d want glass, ceramic or any other material) and place the branch of a green plant there. This should last a few days up to a week. This kind of design is perfect for the Bohemian-inspired home.

 Gotta Love Those Succulents

Creating your plant corner means you have to learn about layering. Your plant sanctuary does not have to be filled with leafy plants all the time. For added texture, you can use succulents. These tiny pots can be arranged right on the floor or you can have them grouped on an open shelf.

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House Plants and Your Wellness

Monday, January 29th, 2018

Uttermost Accessories Tree Topiary Preserved Boxwood 60095: Be stylish and healthy with this indoor plant.

There are many clear benefits to spending a few hours or even just a few minutes outdoors. This is what the Japanese refer to as forest bathing, that moment when you walk through the greenest trees and bushes. But would you just like to experience this awesome feeling when you’re outdoors? Or would you like to reap the benefits of having houseplants brought in?

Houseplants are a lot more than mere decoration. A lot of studies have shown that greenery in your home or even the workplace can contribute to positive moods, lower stress levels, and a clean feeling because the air gets filtered somehow.

If you want to improve your health as well as the aesthetics of your home, then you can hit these two birds with the single stone that are house plants.

A single potted plant for every 100 square feet is highly recommended. This or you can ask an interior designer how to best customize the indoor plant placement in your living areas.

Grade A Air Quality

Indoor plants have amazing air purifying effects. This was declared by no less than NASA in 1989. According to them, plants can easily detoxify space stations. If the plants can do it in there, then they could just as easily do it inside energy efficient buildings.

There are many different kinds of indoor plants that can be effectively used to remove benzene, formaldehyde, and other types of pollutants in any sealed chambers. Common golden pothos and spider plants have been observed to be most effective.

Other plants that offer air cleansing benefits include the ficus, dracaena, English ivy, Chinese evergreen, peace lily, bamboo, reed palm, and the philodendron.

If you want to lessen the risks of stroke, ischemic heart disease, respiratory infections, COPD, and lung cancer, then be ready to embrace these new decorative elements.

Experts have yet to agree as to the reasonable amount of houseplants that could cleanse a significant pollutant level. But for as long as you have potted plants indoors, you, somehow, take the first steps towards a cleaner environment.

Increased Productivity

Who wouldn’t want to have an increased amount of activity in a home office? Since we all live in a world of computers and gadgets, humans tend to be disconnected from Mother Nature so it makes sense that you bring in a little of nature to enhance the mood in a workspace.

Science supports this concept as was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2014. If you like to increase productivity and job satisfaction, then be sure to bring in a potted plant or two in your home office.

Healing Influence

How would you like to be free from ailments? Studies on flowers and plants show that they have a positive effect on the recovery of surgical patients. In fact, these patients tend to have less need for painkillers when they have greeneries to cheer them up. They also reported less fatigue and anxiety.

Plants are known to significantly reduce the time that a patient heals inside a hospital. There are also pieces of evidence of the positive effects of horticulture therapy where patients actually take part in caring for plants while they are recuperating.

It is possible that these healing effects take place because plants are amazing filters of airborne microbes. A study at the Washington State University proved that a house with plants has 20% less dust.

Just be careful that you don’t bring indoor plants as gifts to patients who have recently undergone transplants or are immune-compromised. These people are more susceptible to bacteria in the soil so it is best to wait for them to recover before you even consider giving them indoor plant gifts.

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Decorative Houseplants: Perfect Embellishments for Interior Spaces

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016

From FFDM's Fusion Collection

From FFDM’s Fusion Collection

When you bring in houseplants, don’t think that you’re just adding green stuff.  These living things have the power to interact with you, holistically, and could even enhance the quality of your lifestyle. Just imagine this, you spend about 80-90% of your time indoors. This means that you need to think about solutions for indoor pollution or you end up risking your health.

So what are the benefits of using houseplants as decorative elements in your home?

Houseplants = Fresh Air

As you breathe, your lungs take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, though, this process is reversed in plants. This opposite pattern makes houseplants a great source of oxygen. Just make sure that you bring out the plants at night when photosynthesis stops so that they get to respire as humans do.

If you still want to enjoy seeing plants during the evening, it is best to bring in succulents, orchids and epiphytic bromeliads. These plants are best placed in bedrooms so that air remains fresh at night.

Houseplants = Moisture

Plants release water vapor or moisture as part of their respiratory process. The great news is that plants release 97-percent of their water intake so when you place several plants side-by-side, they can easily increase the humidity inside a room. Doing this has great benefits such as zero sore throats, dry skin and you even get to enjoy a healthy respiratory system, too.

Houseplants = Purified Air

You don’t just get upped oxygen levels in your room if you bring in houseplants. Plants are known to remove toxins from the air. NASA research shows that about 87% of volatile organic compounds or VOCs can be removed by houseplants. Famous VOCs include vinyl, formaldehyde, cigarette smoke, and non-recyclable grocery bags. Paints, solvents, man-made fibers and inks are also filled with these harmful chemicals. Benzene – also a health hazard – is commonly found in books and any printed paper.

If you want to decrease the harmful effects of VOCs, then be sure to bring in plants inside your home. The contaminants are pulled to the soil by the roots of houseplants. The root microorganisms then turn the VOCs to plant food.

For houseplants that keep VOCs at bay, you should try the spider plant, Gerbera daisy, the English ivy, dragon tree, and the philodendron.

Houseplants = Improved Health

Did you know that putting plants inside hospital rooms could speed up the recovery rates of post-surgery patients? This is according to a research conducted by the Kansas State University. When compared to patients who stayed in rooms without plants, the former patients required less pain medication and even had lower blood pressures and heart rates. Eventually, the patients whose rooms had plants were also released earlier.

This same concept can be used to your advantage in your home. You can reduce the occurrence of stroke by 34%; ischemic heart disease by about 26%; COPD by 22%; respiratory illnesses in children by 12% and lung cancer by 6%.

Accessories Uttermost Maurizio Stone Plant Stand 24624

Accessories Uttermost Maurizio Stone Plant Stand 24624

Recommendations

If you aim to improve your overall health also to reduce stress and fatigue, you can place one large houseplant (no less than an eight-inch diameter pot or bigger for each 129 sq. ft. If it is your aim to purify the air, then use 15-18 plants inside 6-8 inch diameter pots. This is for larger homes (approximately 1,800 sq. ft.). This means that you can have one big plant for every 100 square feet or two smaller pots for the same area.

Remember to match the plant according to the growing conditions in your home. There are plants that thrive even with low lighting conditions and there are those that need to be taken out to catch some sunlight.

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